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Fractal Design Define R5 or Define S?

Henryxrl

Hey guys,

 

Any of you own the two cases? I'm wondering whether I should get R5 or S for my build. (btw, I don't do custom water cooling). I know both are excellent silent cases and look almost identical. I'm just wondering how silent Define S is comparing to R5? Since the front panel of S no long has the noise dampening foam.

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R5 looks better and build better imo and smaller

Really? R5 is smaller? I thought they have the same dimension...?

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If you don't care for Silence, and you don't have a lot of HDD's, get the Define S.

Main Gaming PC (new): HP Omen 30L || i9 10850K || RTX 3070 || 512GB WD Blue NVME || 2TB HDD, 4TB HDD, 8TB HDD ||  750W P2 ||  16GB HyperX Black DDR4

Main Gaming PC (old, still own) : Intel Core i7 7700K @5.0Ghz || GPU: GTX 1080 Seahawk EK X || Motherboard: Maximus VIII Impact || Case: Fractal Design Define Nano S || RAM : 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 

Cooling: EK XRES D5 100mm || Alphacool ST30 280mm w/ Vardars || Alphacool ST30 240mm w/ Vardars || Swiftech 3/8 x 1/2'' Lok-Seal Compressions || Swiftech EVGA Hydrocopper Block || Primochill Advanced LRT Orange || Distilled Water

Folding@Home Rig: 2x X5690s @4.6Ghz || GPUs: 2x Radeon HD 7990 || Motherboard: EVGA SR-2 || Case: Corsair 900D || RAM: 48GB Corsair Dominator GT 2000Mhz CL9

Ethereum Mining Rig: Pentium G4400 || Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 TH || 2x GTX 1060s (Samsung & Hynix) 1x GTX 1070 (Micron), 2x RX480s BIOS modded (Samsung), 1x R9 290X 8GB, 1x GTX 1660 Super = ~ 195 Mh/s

Peripherals: 3x U2412M (5760x1200), 1x U3011 (2560x1600) || Logitech G710 (Cherry Blues) || Logitech G600 || Brainwavz HM5 with @Gofspar Mod 

Laptop: Dell XPS 15 || "Infinity Edge" 4K IPS Screen || i7 7700HQ || GTX 1050 || 16GB 2400Mhz RAM 

 

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R5 is more silent.

Thanks! So the front noise dampening foam does effect noise level a lot, huh?

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If you don't care for Silence, and you don't have a lot of HDD's, get the Define S.

I only have one HDD, that's why I think I can possibly get the S. I do care about silence, but if the difference is very subtle, then either one is fine.

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Thanks! So the front noise dampening foam does effect noise level a lot, huh?

Not a huge difference but R5 will be more silent, also it looks better if you don't have custom watercooling IMO :)

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Not a huge difference but R5 will be more silent, also it looks better if you don't have custom watercooling IMO :)

Cool! I will buy the non-window version of the either case, so I guess people can't see what's inside anyway haha. If I get the R5, I'll move the hhd case to the top and put the radiator in the bottom front. I will also put a fan on the bottom pulling air inward. Top panel will be closed so air only exits out from the rear fan. What do you think of this setup?  :)

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Cool! I will buy the non-window version of the either case, so I guess people can't see what's inside anyway haha. If I get the R5, I'll move the hhd case to the top and put the radiator in the bottom front. I will also put a fan on the bottom pulling air inward. Top panel will be closed so air only exits out from the rear fan. What do you think of this setup?  :)

I am not sure if you can install HDD cage on the top without slight modding since 5,25" bay has different mounts than HDD cage, but it shouldn't be hard, you can also move the cage closer to PSU without modding if you have enough space there, and I actually plan to do something similar if I ever get AiO watercooler, I don't care about silence (Yes I have define R5 xD) but there is no dust filter on the top and it would look ugly without moduvents so I will have rad at the front :)

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I am not sure if you can install HDD cage on the top without slight modding since 5,25" bay has different mounts than HDD cage, but it shouldn't be hard, you can also move the cage closer to PSU without modding if you have enough space there, and I actually plan to do something similar if I ever get AiO watercooler, I don't care about silence (Yes I have define R5 xD) but there is no dust filter on the top and it would look ugly without moduvents so I will have rad at the front :)

I've seen people install HDD cage on the top where the 5.25" bay is, on YouTube. :) 

I agree with you. Without any dust filter at the top, I will never install my radiator there. I'm just not sure if it's good to put the radiator in the front and pull air in. Yes it gives the system a positive air pressure but since there's a radiator, the air comes in should be hot, right? Won't that even increase the temp inside the case instead of help cooling it? hmmm...

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I've seen people install HDD cage on the top where the 5.25" bay is, on YouTube. :) 

I agree with you. Without any dust filter at the top, I will never install my radiator there. I'm just not sure if it's good to put the radiator in the front and pull air in. Yes it gives the system a positive air pressure but since there's a radiator, the air comes in should be hot, right? Won't that even increase the temp inside the case instead of help cooling it? hmmm...

With your rad as intake you will have lower CPU temperatures but higher GPU temeratures but I have seen a lot of people with rad as intake in R5 and it seems to be fine, what GPU will you use?

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With your rad as intake you will have lower CPU temperatures but higher GPU temeratures but I have seen a lot of people with rad as intake in R5 and it seems to be fine, what GPU will you use?

I will use Gigabyte gtx 980. Will probably add another one in the far future. (That's why I bought the evga 850w psu).

Do you think I need a larger case, like Corsair 780T, in order to run gtx 980 and future sli?

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With your rad as intake you will have lower CPU temperatures but higher GPU temeratures but I have seen a lot of people with rad as intake in R5 and it seems to be fine, what GPU will you use?

 

It's a pretty negligible amount of increased temperature. Maybe 1-2c more, if that.. but in return your CPU will be cooler. It really depends on which one gets hotter and needs to be cooled more, I suppose. :P

 

Here's one guy's testing http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2ej4yt/discussion_radiator_position_temperature_testing/. I'd like to note that he had to overclock to 4.6 (instead of his usual 4.2) to affect the GPU temperatures in the test. Otherwise, his CPU would've gone down (with his usual overclock) and his GPU would've stayed the same (more or less).

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Not a huge difference but R5 will be more silent, also it looks better if you don't have custom watercooling IMO :)

I just thought of something... why is everyone saying that R5 is quieter than S? What causes that? I thought they're pretty much identical... right?

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I just thought of something... why is everyone saying that R5 is quieter than S? What causes that? I thought they're pretty much identical... right?

 

More sound dampening in the R5; the S removed some padding to cheapen the cost of production. 

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S

n0ah1897, on 05 Mar 2014 - 2:08 PM, said:  "Computers are like girls. It's whats in the inside that matters.  I don't know about you, but I like my girls like I like my cases. Just as beautiful on the inside as the outside."

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R5 

CPU: i7 5820k @4.4GHz | MoboMSI MPower X99A | RAM: 16GB DDR4 Quad Channel Corsair LP | GPU: EVGA 1080 FTW Case: Define R5 Black Window | OS: Win 10 Pro

Storage: SanDisk Ultra II 960GB 2x WD Red 4TB | PSU: EVGA 750W G2 | Display:Acer XF270HU + Dell U2515H | Cooling: Phanteks PH-TC14PE

Keyboard: Ducky One  TKL Browns | Mouse: Steel Series Rival 300 | Sound: DT990s

 

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havnt looked at the 5 yet

but i like the hard drives have been moved to the side of the case now

whens the s come out ?

 

 

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havnt looked at the 5 yet

but i like the hard drives have been moved to the side of the case now

whens the s come out ?

 

June 8th. You can preorder it here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=FD-CA-DEF-S-BK&N=-1&isNodeId=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6159202&SID=i9bw8fqxhq00zup300053.

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More sound dampening in the R5; the S removed some padding to cheapen the cost of production. 

The only sound dampening foam removed that I noticed is the one on the front panel - S no longer has that. Other than that, any other places?

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